Rewrite the Stars
by PrimaImperatrix
Summary: When the sultan refuses to let them marry, Aladdin is forced to accept he's not the one Jasmine was meant to find. There are too many things working to keep them apart. She wants to fight for their love, forcing Aladdin to make a hard choice she may never forgive. (AU inspired by "Rewrite the Stars" from "The Greatest Showman")


A/N: This fic is a slight AU, based on an alternate ending to the live action. It is inspired by the "Rewrite the Stars" song and scene from the film _The Greatest Showman. _It was not intended to be a songfic, or a shot for shot rewrite, simply deeply inspired by the song and choreography, as well as the parallels between the characters and the parkour aspect of Aladdin.

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The sultan had stood before him, bold enough to look him in the eye and shake his hand like they were equals, even as he told him he would never be worthy of his daughter. Taking the long way home, Aladdin lingered in the market, but nothing registered except the pain from gripping the hair pain in his hand until it was sharp enough to draw blood. Everything else, everything but her, was just shape, color, and sound. Transfixed, the conversation recycled in his head the entire walk from the palace gates to the stairs of his tower.

"You are a good man, Aladdin. You have saved my kingdom, and I owe you a great debt which I intend to repay. But, you and my daughter are from very different worlds. The man who marries her will someday rule over Agrabah. I cannot just hand over my kingdom, and my only child, to a common thief who sought to deceive me, no matter how pure of heart or noble his intentions. Riches and title, these things I can reward you for defeating Jafar… but, I simply cannot give my blessing in your pursuit of the hand of the princess."

The explanation sounded so reasonable. Yes, he had saved Agrabah, but no matter the outcome, all that he was, all that he had done, it would never be enough. Rejection, discrimination, revulsion — these things Aladdin had come to expect from the world. In response, he did the only thing he could think to do, and apologized.

"I… I understand, Your Majesty." He swallowed, taking a step back, shrinking away as fast as he could. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused.

Then his feet were carrying him away before everything inside him broke. He couldn't even find the courage to look at Jasmine before fleeing. Whatever her reaction, he simply couldn't withstand the blow. Instead, he'd fallen on his old habits, and disappeared into the swarming streets of Agrabah. By the time he reached his home, the sun was already obscured by the horizon. Light was clinging to the edge of the desert, and darkness had already fallen over most of the city.

Jasmine was waiting for him. It was evident that she had been for a while, and that she had spent most of that time crying. Now, her tears were safely tucked away, but she could not so easily conceal the frayed edges of her emotions.

"I waited for you," she whispered.

Dropping down onto the dilapidated balcony, he dangled his leg precariously off the crumbling ledge. His failure to acknowledge her, his detachment, only provoked her to move closer. Reaching for his hand, she flashed a wounded look when he flinched, and pulled it back. In all their time together, he had never been with restrained in his touches — slipping jewelry on and off her wrist, freely brushing back her hair, kissing her hand. It pained him to deny her the indulgence he'd so liberally taken, that had brought him such comfort in those times, which is now what she was seeking. Comforting her would only be salt in the wound. But, so was the absolute dismay on her face when he denied her.

Stiffening at his dismissal, she squared her shoulders, trying to exude a facade of confidence. "I have never been so furious with Baba. I'm not giving up, Aladdin."

"You don't understand, Jasmine…" he sighed, still unable to meet her eyes, so he stared across the darkening expanse to where the sea met land. "You're the princess. The people give you deference and respect. You've never had anyone look at you the way your father looks at me… how everyone looks at me."

"I understand more than you think, because I know what it is to be looked at, but not truly seen. My father will never see me as anything but a little girl. But, I know who and what I am — that I'm capable of being so much more than what people see. So are you."

"He may not _see_ you when he looks at you, but at least when he looks there is love in his eyes. When people look at me, I see a reflection of everything about me that is unwanted."

"You know that I want you. It's not a secret I try to hide."

"But, we would have to keep our love a secret." He argued. "You're father will tolerate me until he feels his debt to me has been paid… and then I will be expected to go away. To go back to wherever I came from and disappear."

Standing up, he finally took her hand, bringing it up between both of his own, gently grazing the knuckles with the pad of his thumb. Deep down, it killed a part of him to do it — her eyes were so full of fire and hope — but this had to be done.

"This… you and me… it was a beautiful dream." Tugging her closer, he grazed his thumb across her cheek as she closed her eyes, leaning into the touch he had withheld. "But, there's no world, old or new, where they will let us be together."

Popping open, Jasmine's eyes were full of tears. "Aladdin, don't… I will make him understand."

"He could have repealed the law, given his blessing, but he didn't." Offering her a weak smile, it was the only recourse he had against his own tears. "I saved the kingdom, and it didn't change a damn thing. In his eyes, in the eyes of Agrabah, I will always be a street rat."

"Why do you care so much what they think?"

"Unlike you, I don't have a crown and an army to protect me."

She wanted to contest him. He watched as the muscles around her mouth worked, as if she was warring with herself, rethinking her words even as they threatened to escape.

"Let's run away," she whispered finally, leaning back into his touch.

"You would never abandon your people, and I would never ask you too." Leaning in, he tangled his fingers in her hair as he cradled her neck, and he kissed her with as much finality as he could muster. He tried to pour everything he was, everything he carried for her, in that kiss. Clinging to him, she drank of everything he gave. When he finally pulled back, he said, "That's why you have to forget about me."

"I know you want this! Stop pretending our hands are tied."

"It's not in the stars for us. Fate has other plans for you, and it's pulling you far away from me."

"I don't care." Moving the hand already entwined with hers, she pressed it against her chest. Beneath his palm, her own chaotic rhythm was increasing his own. "You're in my heart. Only I get to decide my destiny."

"I doesn't work like that for a princess."

Stepping towards the gap in the broken balcony, her eyes widened when she realized what he was about to do. Desperately, she reached out to him with both hands.

"Then we rewrite the stars!" She shouted quickly. "If I say you were made to be mine, nothing can keep us apart."

"I'm not the one you were meant to find." Shaking his head, his boot toed the edge of the balcony. "But, I hope you find what you're looking for. You… you deserve everything."

The dark swallowed him as he dropped, but it wasn't a magic carpet that caught him this time when he fell. Dust exploded around him as he bounced off an awning, grabbing a pulley as he caught the air, using the counterbalance to lower him gently to the ground. Stalking through the streets, he needed to give her time to realize he was wasn't coming back as long as she was there. Eventually she would return to the palace. Eventually, she would come to her senses. Eventually, she would let him go. What he was unwilling to admit to himself was that the only thing worse than seeing her waiting for him in his tower loft, would be returning with the knowledge that it's emptiness meant she was really gone, forever.

Of course, everything she said had been true. He wanted her more than anything. But, he wasn't meant to have her. To pretend otherwise was just delaying the inevitable and prolonging heartbreak. When the day arrived when she would be married off to some so-called _worthy_ prince, Aladdin would need the scar tissue afforded from pain endured over time to withstand the blow. Better to cauterize the wound and deal with the scar then to let it bleed out slowly, praying for a miracle. Better to cut off a limb before it could consume the rest of the body with sickness. Unfortunately, that meant cutting out his own heart at his own hand.

Senses adept to being followed, his ears perked at the sound of rustling fabric. Bounding up onto a nearby cart loaded with empty crates for the next day's business, he used them to climb onto the roof the adjacent building. Shadows were already thick in the alley, the moon obscured by clouds. It had been reckless of her to follow him — to chase him down darkened streets all by herself. But, he knew Jasmine better than to accept defeat so easily, and sulk back to the palace. She was a fighter. Honestly, it's what he loved most about her.

Watching from atop the roof, he leaned over the half wall, concealed and out of view, even without the aid of the dark. Skidding to a halt in the sand, she darted her head in both directions. Even from the height, he could hear her groaning in frustration. Slumping against the cart, she let he head rock back over one of the crates, looking up at the stars she was angry over having betrayed her.

"Why won't you fight for this, Aladdin?"

"You think it's easy?" He asked, walking along the width of the wall, barely wider than his foot, with perfect balance. "That I don't want to run to you?"

She spun around, trying to discern his location in the dark, made more difficult with how his voice carried, echoing off the alley walls. All she could do was follow the noise of his movements as he bounded from the wall to a set of beams connecting to the next building.

Suspended above her, he hung upside down, whispering above her head, "Do you think I don't want to run away with you?"

Climbing on the crates, she leaped towards his voice. But, in the dark, relying on sound alone, she was always one jump behind. Vaulting to another set, hHe moved just as she landed on the beam.

"You think that when we're outside the palace walls that we're able to be just you and me, but it's hopeless. Everything will keep us apart. He will never let you be mine."

Standing on one of the beams, she draped her arms over another one, leaning on it from her abrupt exertion.

"It's not up to him. It's between you and me. He can marry me off to whoever he wants, but he can't keep us apart forever." He watched her scan across the darkness, continuing even after her eyes moved past him, unable to differentiate his shape from the other shadows. "I say what I get to do, what I get to be."

She froze as she locked on to him, and she jumped for the highest beam as he dropped down a few. But, she mistook his move. Diving towards the roof, thinking she was on his heels, she misjudged the distance in the dark.

"It's impossible," he shouted, swinging out from the beam by one hand, and caught her with other the second she lost her grip on the wall. The clouds parted, moonlight washing over them as hung suspended in the air. Separated by their collective arm lengths, she stared up at him with longing he ached to return. "Everyone tells us what we get to be." Swinging her back up onto the beams, held her until she set her feet on one level with him. "You'll realize that in time, Princess."

He let the title, the unexpected formality, hang between them, using it as a distraction when it flared her anger. Jumping to the roof, she was able to follow this time with the aid of the moonlight shining a light on the way. Dropping down the opening to an interior staircase, he took the steps in pairs. Her footfalls pounded behind him. He expected her to chase him this time— that was his plan.

In and out. Over, under, through. Leading her through a maze of passages on various levels, she maintained pursuit close enough to never be out of earshot or out of his periphery when he turned. Rushing out into the open street, he halted, spinning to face her. Even at this hour, the market was full of people, which is exactly what he wanted. He'd led her back to an open, well lit space, where she would be able to find her way safely now.

She didn't realize he had set a trap for her until she exploded out of the alley after him. Slowing her steps from her sprint to a stagger, she realized she was standing within view of the gates of the palace. The hurt in her eyes was profound, and she narrowed her gaze on him. Furious, she fisted his vest in her hands. When she tried to speak, her voice was hoarse from running, from shouting after him, from crying as her tears cut tiny rivers through the dust that had settled over her cheeks.

"You're an inconsistent criminal, you know that?" She jerked at the lapels of his hood. "You convince yourself if you don't have anything, you have to act like you own everything, so you steal anything you can't afford." Dropping her head towards his chest, she pulled him closer, resting her forehead on her fists. "But, steal the heart of the princess, and suddenly you care about the law."

"I promised you a whole new world, but I have nothing to offer." He whispered into her ear. "If I had the power, I'd change the world to be ours."

Lifting her chin with a trembling hand, he met her eyes, but this time, he was the one pleading.

"You know I want you." His voice broke, betraying the true extent of his pain. "It's not a secret I try to hide."

Removing her hands from his vest, he kissed them softly across the knuckles before dropping them, and shouting out to a set of patrolling guards. Before she had time to react, he traded places with her, positioning himself closer to the alley opening. Despite the lantern light of the market street, heartbreak darkened her face when she realized what he had done. If looks could kill, Aladdin would have been struck dead the moment she heard him call to the guards.

"But, I can't have you." Slowly stepping backwards, unable to take his eyes off her as he retreated. "There are laws I can't break, and my hands are tied."

He was back in the security of the shadowed alley when the guards reached her, relieved to have found her safe. Standing in the frame of the opening, he watched them take her away. Her eyes, spilling with tears, never left him until her retreating form had been lost among the other moving bodies in the crowd. Turning, he began another long walk home. Pulling out the hair pin, he closed his eyes and pressed it to his lips.

It was better this way. No one could rewrite the stars. He wasn't the one she was meant to find.

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A/N: This one is going to be a stand alone, I swear. This was the fourth inspiration for an Aladdin fic I've had since I saw the movie... the first time! It's becoming a problem. But, this was an important fic for me to write. It was inspired by one of my very dedicated readers who reached out to me on AO3 through our shared love/obsession with Aladdin. She gave me the inspiration for this, and I toyed around with writing it... and then she had a terrible week. So, this is for you Julia. I hope this fic made the week a little more bearable.


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